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Australia will have to wait another twelve months to re-enter the Fed Cup World Group after they were humiliated 4-0 by the United States on the weekend.
Having recently been given the tick of approval to represent her new country for the first time, Daria Gavrilova kicked off proceedings on Pat Rafter Arena against former Australian Open semi-finalist Madison Keys.
Gavrilova proved to be no match for the 21-year-old Keys, who with the absence of Serena and Venus Williams, as well as recent Charleston champion Sloane Stephens, was the highest-ranked American available.
It was then left to Samantha Stosur to level the tie for Australia. The 2011 US Open champion entered her match against Christina McHale with an undefeated record against the former top 25 player, and had defeated her at Indian Wells recently.
After taking the opening set 6-3, all seemed to go very well before McHale, whose biggest victories have included those over Caroline Woznaicki, Petra Kvitova and Sara Errani, among others, dominated the second set 6-1.
The 23-year-old then took a very tightly contested third set to give the United States a 2-0 lead into Sunday’s reverse singles.
At this stage, with the knowledge that CoCo Vandeweghe beat Stosur at the Australian Open and Wimbledon last year, US captain Mary Joe Fernandez decided to play her against the Australian in place of Madison Keys.
With all the pressure on her shoulders, Stosur dominated to take the opening set 6-2, then went up a break early in the second before Vandeweghe broke back to keep it on serve before manufacturing the break in the eleventh game.
The 24-year-old served it out to force a third set, then took out the decider 6-4 to seal the tie for the United States and their re-entry into the World Group.
Vandeweghe then paired with Bethanie Mattek-Sands to defeat the Australian pairing of Arina Rodionova and Daria Gavrilova in straight sets in the meaningless doubles rubber, completing a 4-0 whitewash of the hosts.
While the US celebrate their elevation into the elite eight, Australia will remain in the second tier and will have to defeat a yet-to-be-determined opponent next February to have another shot of returning to the World Group.
Meanwhile, the two semi-final ties between France and the Netherlands, and Switzerland and the Czech Republic, both remain locked at 1-all entering the final day.
In Trelaze, France, Kiki Bertens struck first for the Dutch when she defeated Caroline Garcia in straight sets before Kristina Mladenovic hit back for the hosts with a straight sets victory over Richel Hogenkamp, who in February defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in the longest Fed Cup singles match in history.
In Lucerne, Switzerland, the Czech Republic’s Fed Cup defence hangs in the balance, and without dual Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and French Open finalist Lucie Safarova will need to rely on Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Strycova winning their reverse singles rubbers overnight.
Strycova thrashed Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets before Pliskova, a recent semi-finalist at Indian Wells, was upset in three sets by Viktorija Golubic. The overnight reverse singles rubbers will see Pliskova and Strycova swap opponents before the all-important doubles rubber between Bacsinszky/Hingis and Allertova/Hradecka.
Following that, the regular WTA Tour resumes this week in Stuttgart as the build-up continues to the French Open in May, where Serena Williams is the defending champion. There are also crucial lead-up tournaments in Madrid and Rome.
For now, while the United States celebrate their return to the elite, Australia will be left to lick their wounds and contemplate yet another missed opportunity on home soil, having also lost to Germany in the World Group semi-final in Brisbane two years ago.
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